Dr. Touré Reed, professor of history, will deliver the Spring College Lecture on Wednesday, March 27, at 5 p.m. in the Circus Room of the Bone Student Center. His talk, “Is it Race or Racism?: Why Binary Explanations for Inequality Have Failed Black Americans,” is free and open to the public.
“Professor Reed is an innovative, accomplished scholar specializing in the history of African American politics and intellectual life in the 20th century,” said Dr. Ross Kennedy, chair of the Department of History at Illinois State University. “His path-breaking work has engaged scholars and the wider public alike. His impressive scholarly achievements are all the more remarkable considering his time-consuming commitment to teaching and service here at ISU, where he has been the director or co-director of African American Studies since 2003. He’s someone whose career truly epitomizes the mission of Illinois State University—I am looking forward to his talk!”
Reed is a professor of 20th-century U.S. and Afro-American history at Illinois State. His articles have been published in numerous journals, including the Journal of American Ethnic History, LABOR, Nonsite.org, Jacobin, The Nation, Common Dreams, and The New Republic. He is the author of Not Alms But Opportunity: The Urban League and the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950 (UNC Press) and Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (Verso Books). In 2021 he was named an Outstanding College Researcher.
“The College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Lectureship is one of the highest honors bestowed upon a faculty member by the college,” said Dean Heather Dillaway. “Dr. Reed is extremely deserving of this honor, and his lecture will challenge us to unravel the complicated nature of race and inequality in the United States.”
Reed earned his B.A. in American studies from Hampshire College (Amherst, Massachusetts) and his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University (New York, New York). He is a fourth-generation African American educator and third-generation professor. Having spent his formative years in Atlanta, Georgia, and New Haven, Connecticut, his research interests center on race, class, and inequality. In addition to being a historian of African American and 20th-century U.S. history, Reed is a shred guitar enthusiast.
